"For years, my team at ShakaCode was happy with sticking to Heroku as the simple, cost-effective choice for Rails apps infrastructure. A couple of years ago, we moved our app HiChee to the cloud-native, docker, and K8-based Control Plane platform, and we've been extremely happy with the results, especially the cost-savings and flexibility while maintaining or improving performance and reliability."
Justin Gordon
CEO of ShakaCode and HiChee
Key Areas of Focus
Find the Right Solution for Your Cloud Infrastructure Needs
Costs
ShakaCode helps reduce both cloud and labor costs by identifying the most cost-effective platform for your needs. With ShakaCode's open-source tools integrated with Control Plane, your team can access powerful Kubernetes features without the typical complexity or high labor costs. Whether it's deploying Dockerized applications directly with Kamal for simplicity or leveraging Control Plane's efficient resource management, we guide you to the right solution.
Kamal can be an economical choice for simpler setups, avoiding Kubernetes altogether.
ShakaCode with Control Plane is ideal for enterprises, offering Kubernetes capabilities with optimized resource efficiency, reducing the need for high-end PaaS pricing and extensive Kubernetes expertise.
Terraform's infrastructure-as-code approach simplifies resource provisioning and management, helping reduce operational overhead.
Developer and QA Productivity
ShakaCode's open-source Control Plane Flow CLI enhances developer and QA productivity by bringing the capabilities of Heroku Flow to Kubernetes environments in the cloud of your choice - AWS, GCP, Azure, Hetzner (cheaper), or even self-hosted (cheapest). This CLI simplifies CI automation, enabling features like automated testing and staging environments to ensure code is thoroughly vetted before going live. The result is seamless collaboration and faster deployment processes for development and QA teams.
Kubernetes: Without ShakaCode's Control Plane Flow, Kubernetes environments require considerable investment to enable “Heroku Flow” features like “review apps” (deployments of code branches on production-like infrastructure).
Performance
Achieve optimal scalability and responsiveness by selecting the right platform. ShakaCode enhances performance by helping you choose between lightweight Docker deployments with Kamal or multi-cloud support with Control Plane, tailored to your specific needs.
Kamal offers cost-effective scalability for straightforward Dockerized applications.
Control Plane supports simple deployments cost-effectively and can easily scale to advanced and flexible multi-cloud setups, ideal for enterprises needing performance at scale.
Security and Compliance
Fortify every layer of your cloud infrastructure with a Zero-Trust approach, and ensure compliance with standards like SOC II, PCI DSS, HIPAA, HITRUST, and GDPR. ShakaCode helps you secure applications beyond basic offerings, implementing private networking and auditing without the high costs of Heroku's enterprise plans.
Heroku: Advanced security features like private networking are only available on costly enterprise plans.
Control Plane: Offers robust security and compliance as a standard, ideal for stringent security needs.
Observability
ShakaCode delivers real-time visibility with tailored monitoring, logging, and alerting solutions that optimize system performance and streamline issue resolution. We ensure your team has the tools to proactively manage and troubleshoot your applications, whether through advanced capabilities on Control Plane or simplified monitoring with Kamal.
Control Plane delivers comprehensive observability with advanced auditing capabilities, ideal for organizations needing detailed, compliance-focused monitoring. Control Plane's built-in tools support complex, multi-cloud deployments and offer granular insights to ensure regulatory compliance and operational excellence, including an auditing trail for every change.
Kamal and Heroku provide essential monitoring and logging functionalities, suitable for applications with moderate observability needs. While Kamal supports straightforward Docker-based setups with basic metrics, Heroku offers PaaS-level monitoring. These platforms are ideal for smaller applications that do not require intensive auditing or compliance-focused observability.
Why ShakaCode?
Expert Guidance Across Heroku, Control Plane, Kamal, and More
With ShakaCode, you gain more than just platform expertise. Our open-source Control Plane Flow CLI extends Control Plane's Kubernetes capabilities to deliver the convenience of Heroku Flow. This tool improves your development and deployment processes by enabling features like automated testing environments and controlled staging, ensuring code is thoroughly vetted before going live.
Whether you need a lightweight, cost-effective solution like Kamal or a multi-cloud powerhouse like Control Plane, ShakaCode helps you choose and implement the best approach for your needs.
ShakaCode far exceeded our expectations. Not only did they bring industry-leading technology - React on Rails PRO - to give us the performance and savings we needed, they also gave us the partner we were looking for. ShakaCode has provided the skills, experience, and professionalism we can depend upon as we grow our working relationship.
One of the things that had the biggest impact was the way ShakaCode managed the project. Everything was super-transparent, which, because we’re extremely cost-conscious, was important to us. Everyone tracks their time by the task. That made it easier to predict how long it would take and how much it would cost to develop new features.
Our Approach:
How We Work With You
A Customized Path to Infrastructure Success
1. Initial Assessment
We evaluate your current infrastructure and application needs to determine the best-fit platform, whether it's Heroku, Control Plane, Kamal, or even a mix of those for different parts.
2. Solution Design
Based on your goals, we craft a tailored plan to implement the most effective platform — be it for cost efficiency with Kamal or enterprise-grade security with Control Plane.
3. Proof of Concept
We deploy a pilot solution to validate the chosen platform's capabilities, ensuring it meets performance, cost, and security benchmarks.
4. Full Implementation & Optimization
ShakaCode handles the full migration process, adjusting as needed to optimize costs, performance, security, and observability. Our expertise includes migrating large databases between cloud vendors with nearly zero downtime, even in the absence of native replication.
FAQ
Why Stay on Heroku vs. Move to Control Plane?
Heroku is great for ease of use, but scaling larger apps can be costly and inflexible. ShakaCode clients like Popmenu and HiChee moved to Control Plane for better cost efficiency, enhanced security, and native Docker support. Control Plane offers granular control, real-time cost insights, and tools like "Capacity AI" to optimize resources. If Heroku meets your current needs, it's okay, but if you're scaling, read more on why businesses switch and how ShakaCode can guide your transition.
How does ShakaCode decide between Kamal and Control Plane?
We assess your app's complexity, scalability, security, and budget. Kamal is ideal for simple Docker deployments, while Control Plane is better for complex, multi-cloud applications with advanced security and observability needs. Kamal's ease of use and low setup costs may be preferable for simple apps, while Control Plane is best for enterprises requiring scalability and compliance. Learn more about our platform recommendations here.
Why Did Moving to Control Plane Lower Costs for HiChee.com?
Migrating HiChee.com from Heroku to Control Plane cut compute costs by 65% and database costs by 30%. Control Plane's "Capacity AI" optimized resource use, reducing over-provisioning. Other savings included flexible resource allocation, built-in logging and monitoring tools, and enhanced security without expensive upgrades.
Why Is AWS RDS Better Than Heroku for HiChee's Database?
Switching to AWS RDS during the Control Plane migration saved 30% and boosted performance. Unlike Heroku's fixed pricing, RDS allows customized CPU, RAM, and storage. It also supports shared servers for non-production databases, reducing costs.